Chapter Twenty-Four: The Great Army of Mossflower

Nettleclaw gazed north; his army was preparing to march. It had taken a few days to reorganize his army; they had taken heavy casualties. He had seen a goose flying east, on the horizon yesterday. It was probably going to warn Redwall, but that did not matter. If they fled the Abbey, he had enough troops to hunt them down. A map he had "acquired" showed a cluster of hills near the Ridge of a Thousand, with luck they would camp there tonight. Mudeye, his second-in-command while Blackskull was absent, walked up behind him and saluted.

"The horde's ready to move out, chief."

"Good," Nettleclaw strode off northward, with his soldiers following behind; all sixteen hundred of them.

By marching through the night, the army from Redwall reached the hills by dawn. They found that the Long Patrol had already arrived and set up camp, on the north side of the largest hill, so as to be out of sight when the Rapscallions drew close. Adaracor saw the new arrivals, he strode over, "Good, you're just in time. Skipper, Log-a-log, would you and all the other captains come with me? We need to discuss battle plans."

Skipper, Lutran, and Log-a-log followed the badger. Aspen ran up from where the Limbrunners were marching in the rear. He ran a few steps past Beechtail, stopped, and turned, "Come on. Martin made you the champion, didn't he?"

Beechtail hadn't realized that the others would count him as a leader. He made a mental note of that, and ran to join Aspen.

Adaracor looked up as the squirrels joined the group of commanders that was gathered around a model of the hill. There were piles of rocks arranged on it, presumably representing battle formations. "Aspen Limbrunner, glad you could make it. Who's your friend?"

Aspen replied, "Beechtail, formerly of Angdelve. Martin chose him to wield his sword"

"Formerly?"

"It got overran by vermin," answered Beechtail, "Unless I am much mistaken, the same ones we are about to fight."

"They conquered Angdelve? Oh, that explains where they got so many weapons. By the way, how do you know this is the same group?"

Beechtail held up the Rapscallion sword, "Because I took this off their leader."

Adaracor took the sword, and looked it over, "Yes, this is definitely badger made. You've got yourself the real Rapscallion sword."

"Badger made?" asked Beechtail.

"Long story, no time to explain it now." Adaracor pointed to the mound and pebbles, "Since the Rapscallions have an extremely competent group of archers, we've decided to spread our forces out. There will be fewer soldiers in the center, but that's where the best fighters will be, they will also have the highest ground. Skipper, your otter crew will be here along the west end, Log-a-log, you'll take the east side. Aspen, you'll e in the back of the west group. I'm expecting the Rapscallions to break through our lines at the center. When that happens, bring everyone around, and strike at their archers. That may be our only hope. With the exception of a hundred hares, that are somewhere northwest of us, we are all that stands between the Rapscallions and victory; we cannot afford to retreat. Any questions?"

Beechtail had one, "What about me?"

"You'll be in the center with me, if the Rapscallions see you wielding the Rapscallion sword, it may demoralize them. And anyway, if Martin appointed you as champion, you must be an excellent fighter."

As Adaracor continued talking, Beechtail realized that since he had Martin's sword, everyone expected him to be some sort of superhero, but he wasn't. He was just a normal squirrel. Actually, that wasn't a very good description of him either; who ever heard of a squirrel that couldn't climb a tree, or shoot an arrow? Maplefur could, and so could Aspen…

Beechtail jerked himself back to reality just in time to hear the end of Adaracor's sentence, "also, the hill has a lot of tall grass on it that we can use for cover. Come with me, I'll show you."

As the other captains followed the badger, Beechtail started to follow them. Someone grabbed his shoulder, he turned. It was Maplefur. She seemed sort of…nervous, which was unusual for her. "Beechtail, um… there's something I wanted to tell you…I-"

Beechtail interrupted her, "You want to fight in the back with the Limbrunners. That's fine; maybe if we survive this battle, you can join them. I'm sure Aspen would love that."

He hurried off after the others, leaving Maplefur standing there, mouth open, looking shocked and confused.